Well Crommy is unable to do Stage races, and Alex is havign problems with anything other than Career's, so It looks like I will be your host for the next few days - with Romandie and the Giro.
The Tour de Romandie is the typical place to warm up for the Giro, and it will suit the climbers who can time trial well.
We finally welcome Astana to the season, Romandie will be their debut, and Smoothie is hopeful that Di Luca win as he is 'fresh'.
Another 'fresh' rider is Saunier Duval's Leonardo Piepoli, who will be making his first appearance of the season here. He isnt too fussed about winning but is just trying to get into form.
Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio will look to extend Ag2r's ProTour lead over Lampre - who's leader is the Pais Vasco winner, Rinaldo Nocentini.
Christophe Moreau and Jose Rujano will lead Bouygues, but there is no place on the team for Cancellara - who would have been a favourite for the Swiss time trials.
Cardenas (Caisse), Gomez Marchante (Discovery Channel), Parra (Cofidis) will all lead their team, while FDJ will be led by last year's winner: Cadel Evans. Liquigas will hope that their young gun Andy Schleck can perform and beat the likes of Leipheimer and Serpa from Milram.
Napolitano (Lampre) and Richeze (Caisse) are tipped to win the sprints but watch out for the likes of Usov, Vaitkus, Cavendish, Weylandt and Hunter.
Finally, the big favourite for the Time Trials is David Millar, the only rider with a TT stat above 77. Although not riding the Giro, Millar is taking the race seriously and hopes to increase his ProTour points tally.
